Rachel Rubanguka
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Research Mentor(s): Andrew Gronewold
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: School for Environment and Sustainability / SNRE
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Artistic
Session: Session 1 – 10am – 10:50am
Room: Vandenberg
Authors: Rachel Rubanguka, Andrew Gronewold
Presenter: 5
Abstract
Abstract The Great Lakes are the largest fresh surface water system on earth, and they separate the United States of America and Canada. They have been part of human study for a while now. Many Centuries ago, the Great Lakes were not formed. After the last ice age, the glaciers from the north started to melt and that is how the Great Lakes were formed which are Lake Superior, Michigan-Huron, Erie, and Ontario. A major focal point of Great Lakes study is an understanding of historical Great Lakes water level variability. Most of the measurements that contribute to that understanding have been collected starting in 1860. Before 1918, each of the Great Lakes had only one master gauge to record the information of water level variability. After 1918 the government decided to put more water gauges on all Great Lakes in order to be able to evaluate all their water level variability. After the gauges were placed in 1918, the average recording from all gauges on each Lake were surprisingly different from the water level recording from the Master gauge even though they were on the same lake. One of the main causes in different recording is concavity created rotation of of the lake water. Another cause is the winds that blow (predominantly from the West) and lead to water rise on the east. The last cause of inconsistency of the recordings is the glacial uplift. This study explores the differences in water level measurements around the Lakes, and how they reflect these phenomena.
Engineering
